Furnace-charging system.



L. D. ANDERSON.

FURNACE CHARGING SYSTEM.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 27,1915,

Patented July 31, 1917.

2 SHEETSSHEET1 OOOOOOOOOOO L D. ANDERSON.

FURNACE CHARGING SYSTEM.

APPLICATlON FILED DEC. 27 19!?)- Patented July 31, 1917'.

- 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

ZNVEN TUB: z W wau 02m vzz UNITED STATES Parana: OFFIGE.

LESLIE DOUGLASS ANDERSON, OF MIDVALE, UTAH, ASSIGNOR TO UNITED STATES SMEL'IING, REFINING & MINING COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF MAINE.

runnacn-onaneme SYSTEM.

' Patented July 31, 1917.

and this application filed December 27, 1915. Serial No. 68,768.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Lnsmn DOUGLASS AN- DERSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Midvale in the county of Salt Lake and State of tah, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Furnace-Charging Systems; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the. same.

This invention relates to an apparatus for charging the furnaces of ore treating plants where different grades and classes of ore are to be treated, individually or together, and these various kinds of ore, together with the fluxing, reducing and treating material are separately stored in bins preparatory for treatment.

The process for charging ore furnaces has been claimed in applicants co-pending application No. 865,140, filed October! 5, 1914, of which this application is a divi- S1011.

The special treatment necessary for lead and copper ores has limited the width of the blast furnace by the air pressure which it is practicable to apply at the twyers. The length, however, may be varied considerably and .such length depends principally upon the quantity of ore which it is desired to treat. For the sake of tonnage in a furnace for lead ore the length is I a usually three to four times the width, while a furnace for treating copper may be made much longer than the lead treating furnace. With such a long, narrow furnace, which for convenience will be termed an elongated furnace, it is difiicult to obtain a uniform distribution of the charge throughout the entire length of the furnace. The constitution of the components which go to make up the charge are definitely known and the proportion of each component should be accurately measured in order to obtain the best reduction of the metal and to get a slag of a definite constitution. In the furnace treatment of metals the reduction is better and more uniform if the components of the char e are homogeneously mixed and uniformly istributed throughout the length of the furnace. In a copper furnace and throughout the length mately the length especially in a lead furnace, it is very important that the components be uniformly distributed throughout the length of the furnace.

For many years the charges were shoveled into the furnace by hand, and in fact many furnaces are hand charged today, which method made it possible for the workman to 3udge by the eye where to lace the components to get a uniform distribution. The workmen whodid the furnace charging had to be highly skilled, and therefore such a system entailed a considerable expense. A later development produced furnace charging cars whose dimensions approximated the 1ns1de dimension of the furnace and the components were brought in buggies and mixed in beds and then evenly distributed of the car by hand and then these cars were run over the top of the furnace and their contents dropped all at once into the furnace. This system also was dependent on skilled hand labor and was very expensive.

The object of the invention is to provide an apparatus for charging elongated furnaces such as are used in the treatment of lead and copper ores which will do away with skilled hand labor, and enable the components of the charge to be automatically handled in such manner as to uniformly distribute them throughout the length of the furnace. To this end the invention comprises an apparatus in which feeders uniformly distribute the different components of the charge throughout the length of a hopper or other receptacle which is approxiof the furnace to be. charged, and in which the body of material thus formed is deposited in the furnace as a unit, the components of the charge preferably being mixed throughout the length of the body by a mixer through which the body passes either before or during its deposit in the furnace.

Other features of the invention will be readily understood from the following detailed description of the apparatus illustrated in the drawings, and the manner in which it is utilized.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevation showing more or less diagrammatically a preferred form of apparatus for practising the invention, and Fig. 2 is a similar side elevation, partly in section.

In the apparatus illustrated, the bins A, A A etc., which are provided for holding the different classes of ore, flux, coke, etc., are elevated above the larry car C so that the material in the bins will be fed by gravity. Although only three bins are shown, these bins are generally arranged 1n rows and sufiicient in number to contain the necessary supply of charging ingredients for several days run. The general arrangement and elevation of the bins, the elongated furnace B, the larry car C and charging car D depends upon the topography of the ground upon which the ore treating plant is located, slnce material from a bin could be elevated by suitable hoisting mechanism to a larry car as well as be fed by gravity. The cars also could be run up inclines to give themthe proper position above one another and above the furnace if the bins and loading tracks were not elevated above the furnaces.

The storage bins A are supported by a trestle work above a loading track 16 which is also supported by the trestle. The bottoms of the bins have a pair of compartments at, a at their discharge mouths which supply material from the bin to a palr of endless conveyer feeders 1 and 2 respectively. The feeders 1 and 2 are positioned far enough above the loading track to permit the larry car C to travel below them when moving along the bins to collect the com onents of the charge. The components of t e charge are discharged from the feeders 1 and 2 into a measuring hopper 12 sus-.

pended in the larry car 0 and are uniformly distributed throughout the length of the hopper as discharged. To secure this distribution, the combined effective feeding width of the conveyer feeders 1 and 2 is substantially equal to the length of the hopper 12. The hopper 12 has a length substantially the same as the length of the elongated furnace B, so that the combined effective feeding width of the feeders is substantially equal to the length of the furnace. The discharge ends of the feeders project out over the hopper 12 at a proper distance to drop the material along the longitudinal center of the hopper 12 so that the components are. deposited in layers. Components of the charge collected by this process in the measuring hopper 12 are built up as a body of material which has substantially the same length as the inside length of the furnace, and the relative longitudinal position of the materials, as well as the length of the body, are substantially maintained until the body is deposited in the furnace.

The conveyer feeders consist of a pair of endless belts which travel over a pair of guiding drums 8. The guiding drums 8 at the receiving end of the conveyer are mounted on a driving shaft 5 which is connected by a train of gearing 4:.with a connecting gearing 3. The larry car is preferably provided with an electric motive equipment and has a feeder operating motor 11 mounted on the body of the car at the rear of the measuring hopper 12. The motor 11 has a mechanism arranged to be connected with the feeder when the hopper 12 is in register with the feeders 1 and 2. With this construction the larry car is carefully positioned to insure that the ingredients are uniformly distributed throughout the length of the hopper 12 before the motor 14: can be used to operate the feeders. The feeders l and 2 have a flexible coupling 6 connecting their driving shafts 5 so that they are driven in unison to insure that the material will be uniformly discharged into the measuring hopper 12. The bins A have doors 10 located above the feeders which give access to the feed ng compartments of the bins to make repairs, and also to place the material in a condition to feed properly.

I In collecting a charge for the furnace each ingredient should be accurately weighed, in order to properly balance the amount of flux and reducing material to treat the ore; With the apparatus shown in the drawings, the material is measured by weighing it as it is dlscharged into the hopper 12 of the larry car. For this purpose the hopper 12 is suspended from a scale beam 14, and the beam 14 is connected with an indicating beam 15 mounted in the rear end of the larry car in a position convenient for the car operator.

While the aparatus illustrated above provides a very e cient and convenient means for measuring the material, it may be desirable 1n some cases to measure the material with any of the well known and approved types of measuring and distributing feeders such as the piston feed, the shaker feeder, or the arc-type discharging gate. When using such types of apparatus, however, they should be constructed to uniformly distribute the ingredients being handled throughout the length of the receiving hopper in which the charge is collected, the hopper havmg a length approximately that of the furnace.

In the smelting of some metals, it may be suflicient if the charge of larry car. consisting of ingredients arranged in layers uniformly distributed throughout its length, be discharged directly into the furnace, but in the treatment of copper and especially of lead, it is desirable that the ingredients be thoroughly mixed before being placed in the furnace in order to get the proper reductlon. An efficient and successful type of mixer is shown at E. After the charge is deposited in layers in the hopper 12, the car the length of the C is run directly over the mixer E and by means of the bottom doors 22 and 23 of the measuring ho per 12 is dumped all at once upon the de ectors 24 of the mixer. The deflector blades are pivotally mounted and may be rotated by moving a bar 26 to set the deflectors at any .deslred angle. The principle of operation of such a mixer is to permit part of the charge to take a vertical 4 drop and retard the remainder with the deflectors so that the retarded part will gradually fill in on the vertically dropping part that preceded it. It will be seen that by the number of deflectors and the angle at which the are set, the proportion which is allowed to rop vertically and the angle at which the retarded portion works into the vertically falling portion, can be governed so as to give a homogeneous mixture.

The mixed charge may be received in the hopper 17 of the charging car D and the mixer is so arranged that the mixed material is uniformly distributed throughout hopper 17; The length and preferably the width of hopper 17 are substantially the same as those of hopper 12 and as stated above, these dimensions approximate the inside dimensions of the furnace to be charged. The body of material formed in the hopper 17 is thoroughly mixed and is in substantially the same shape as that in which it is treated in the furnace. In case -it is practicable to run the larry car over the furnace, the mixer may then be located over the furnace and the charge dumped directly through the mixer into the furnace from the larry car. Although a deflector mixer has been described, the invention is not limited to the use of such a mixer since any of the approved types of mixers could be employed which would receive the charge, and homogeneously mix and uniformly distribute it throughout the length of the bed below.

Any of the preferred types of charging cars may be used and these generally have an electric motive equipment. In a type employed the axles are provided with two sets of wheels. The inside set 18, which run on track 20 are larger in diameter than the set 19, on the outside of the car track, in order to carry the weight of the car and hopper when the car is being loaded andv while in transit from the furnaces to the mixer. The smaller wheels 19 run on track 21 at the side of the furnace so that the car D is supported at the sides of the hopper 17 while it is discharging into the furnace. The hopper 17 has the usual bottom discharging mechanism so that when it is placed over a furnace the contents may be dumped all at once.

The physical structure of the furnace and the character of chemical action that take place in the charge during treatment, cause the c'entralportion of the charge to sink Wlll faster than the portion around the sides, so

that in placing the charge in the furnace it isdesirable to so locate the material that it will end: uniformly and all parts of the charge get the same treatment. By means of the chargin' mechanism described, a much more uni orm and accurate distribut1on can be obtained than by any other charging system known to the inventor. It will be noted that the feeders are arranged to feed the material at about the center of the larry car so that the material will be higher at the center than at the sides when placed 1n the hopper. In the dumping of the charge from the measuring hopper through the mixer E the deflectors 24 are arranged to distribute an excess of material along a vertical central plane parallel to the length of the receivin receptacle. material is deposited in If the the charging car before being placed in the furnace, the transfer of the material from the charging car into the furnace will approximately maintain the excess of material rounded about the vertical central plane of the furnace. B

the lanymar is run along the rows of bins A to get the various components of the charge. At each bin the gear 3 is brought to mesh with gearing on the motor 11 and the operatorthen sets the scale beam and operates the apron to get a definite amount of each component.

hese components are arranged in layers uniformly distributed throughout the length of the hopper 12. The larry car with its weighed charge is then run over the mixer E which may be located over a charging car D or the elongated furnace B, and dumped. The blades of the mixer are set at such an angle as to get a thorough mixing, which angle may Vary for different characters of the components to be mixed. The charging car when used, upon receiving the intimately mixed charge from the larry car, is run over the. furnace and the charge i dumped all at one time. With the apparatus outlined above,-. the ore along with the fluxes and reducing agents for treating it are assembled together, homogeneously mixed and uniformly distributed throughout the length of the furnace in which they are treated. Each ingredient of the charge is measured, and all of the measured ingredients are grouped together to be treated as a body. The charge is deposited in the furnace in such a shape that in sinking under the furnace operation all parts of the charge receive a uniform treatment. Having y arranging successive charges in the furnace each charge will sink down and i each charge a complete independent body permits the treatment of many diiferent kinds of ore-in the same furnace during a continuous operation, because each ore, balanced with its treating fluxes and reducing agents, is placed in the furnace as a unit and sinks in the furnace treatment as a un1t.

Having thus described the invent1on,what is claimed as new is:

1. A furnace charging system, having, 1n combination, an elongated furnace, a collecting hopper having approximately the same length as the inside length of the furnace, feeder means for distributing each of the materials to be treated uniformly throughout the length of the hopper, and means for transferring the materials from the hopper into the furnace.

2. A furnace charging system, hav1ng,m combination, an elongated furnace, a measuring car having a hopper approxlmately the same length as the inside length of the furnace, means for feeding each of the materials to be treated into the hopper which has a width substantially the same as the length of the hopper, and means for transferring the materials from the hopper into the furnace.

3. A furnace charging system, having, in combination, an elon ated furnace, a measuring car, a hopper or the car having approximately the same length as the inside length of the furnace, feeder means for distributing each of the materials to be treated uniformly throughout the length of the hopper, a mixer for mixing the materials distributed in the hopper, and means for transferring the materials from the hopper into the furnace.

4:. A furnace charging system, having, in combination, an elongated furnace, a measuring car having a hopper substantially the same length as the inside'length of the furnace, feeding means for distributing materials to be treated in layers in the hopper throughout its length, a charging car, a mixer substantially the length of the hopper, and arranged above the charging car so that materials dumped from the measuring car will be deposited in the charging car uniformly throughout its length, and means for transferring materials from the charging car and depositing them in the furnace.

5. A furnace charging system, having, in combination, an elongated furnace, storage bins adapted to contain thematerials to be treated in the furnace, a movable collecting hopper approximating in length the length of the furnace, a series of feeders for each of the bins whose combined Width substantially equals the length of the hopper to distribute materials from each of the bins uniformly throughout the length of the hopper, and means for transferring the materials from the hopper into the furnace.

6. A furnace charging system, having, in

nae aces combination an elongated furnace, a series of bins for holding t e various ingredients of the charge, a collecting hopper of substantially the same length as the inside length of the furnace, means adapted to uniformly distribute the ingredient from each of the bins throughout the length of the hopper, a mixer having an effective length substantially the length of the furnace for mixing and distributing the charge from the hopper, and means for depositing the charge into the furnace.

7. A furnace charging system, having, in combination, an elongated furnace, a series of bins for holding the various ingredients of the charge, a collecting hopper for gathering definite amounts of the ingredients from the bins, feeders connected with the bins adapted to distribute the ingredients in layers throughout the length of the ho per, a mixer approximately the length 0 the furnace for homogeneously mixing, and distributing the mixed charge in a receptacle approximating the length of the furnace, and means to deposit the charge from the receptacle uniformly throughout the length of the furnace.

8. A furnace charging system, having, in combination, a plurality of bins for separately holding the charging materials, an

elongated furnace, a traveling weighing hopper having approximately the same length as the inside length of the furnace, means for moving the materials separately from said bins and depositing them inseparate layers in the hopper and uniformly throughout the length thereof, and means for transferring the materials from the hopper into the furnace.

9. A furnace charging system, having, in combination, a plurality of bins for separately holding the charging materials, an elongated furnace, a traveling weighing hopper adapted to receive materials separately from said bins, feeder means for separately delivering materials from the bins in separate layers uniformly throughout the length of the hopper, and means approximately the same length as the inside length of the furnace for transferring the materials into the furnace, whereby the materials will be distributed uniformly throughout the length of the furnace.

10. A furnace charging system, havin in combination, a plurality of bins for holding the materials, an elongated furnace, a weighing car, a weighinglhopper on the car having approximately t e same length as the inside length of the furnace, feeder means for each bin for separately distributing the materials to be treated uniformly throughout the length of the hopper, a,

materials upon being dismixer for mixing e hopper, and means for charged from t 11. A furnace charging system, having,

in combination, a plurality of bins for holding the materials, an elongated furnace, a

Weighing car, a Weighing hopper on the car 7 having approximately the same length as the inside length of the furnace, feeder means for each bin for separately distributing the materials to be treated uniformly throughout the length of the hopper, a mixer for mixing materials upon being discharged from the hopper, and means for transferring materials from the hopper into the furnace uniformly throughout the length thereof, said mixer having an effective length substantially the length of the furnace.

12. A furnace charging system, having, in combination, an elongated furnace, means for measuring and distributing the components of a charge in separate portions having a substantially uniform length to form a body of material approximately the length of the furnace, means for thereafter mixing the materials to form a body of thoroughly mixed materials of approximately the length of said furnace, and means for depositing the mixed body of materials uniformly throughout the length of the furnace.

13. A furnace charging. system, having, in combination, an elongated furnace, means for measuring and distributing the components of a charge in separate superposed portions, means for maintaining this Stratified body of materials in a body ap proximately the length of the interior of said furnace, and means whereby said body of materials is deposited all at once uniformly throughout the length of the furnace, for the purposes herein set forth.

LESLIE DOUGLASS ANDERSON. 

